Nigeria’s Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs. Iman Suleiman-Ibrahim, has disclosed that the Federal Government is negotiating with the leadership of the National Assembly to broker peace over the suspension of the Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
The Minister disclosed this on Friday to State House correspondents during a Meet-the-Press Programme at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
247nextnews.com reports that her comments came barely 24 hours after the 10th Senate suspended the Kogi Central Senator for six months over allegedly bringing ridicule to the leadership of the Upper Chamber.
The lawmaker had submitted a petition alleging she had been sexually harassed by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
Akpoti-Uduaghan first raised the alarm on February 28.
The Ethics Committee of the Senate however dismissed her petition on procedural grounds and recommended her suspension.
The Suleiman-Ibrahim described the development as an unfortunate and should not have happened.
“It’s an unfortunate incident that should not happen. In the last assembly, we had nine senators that were women.
“We don’t want to be losing any woman member in the Senate or decrease in the numbers.
“We are going to be brokering peace. We will engage all the stakeholders to ensure that they temper justice with mercy,” she said.
The Minister said she is emboldened by the Senate President’s openness to talk.
“I was at the National Assembly yesterday, at the Senate where we marked the International Women’s Day.
“The last thing the Senate President said was that ‘we are open to broker peace.’
“So, we are going to be the intermediary between the two parties to see that we broker peace; for peace to reign. “We’re engaging all the stakeholders to ensure that they temper justice with mercy, and then we will continue to sensitise everyone a o that we learn to work better together as women and men,” she said.
